Outbrain, which powers the “recommended links” sections that appear at the bottom of many news sites, is reportedly considering an IPO for early next year that could value the company at $1 billion, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal

Facebook has launched a new tech-focused version of its Newswire called FB Techwire, which it says it hopes will become a resource for technology journalists — a shot across the bow of existing aggregators like Techmeme

In the aftermath of multiple killings in California by a violent misogynist, the hashtag #YesAllWomen became a lightning rod for criticism and trolling — but also showed just how powerful the weak ties of social media can be when harnessed for good

Ex-Huffington Post execs Ken Lerer and Eric Hippeau are finally out with their social video news app NowThis News. Will younger users find it more captivating than just flipping channels, or picking off videos from a user’s social stream?

Circa, the stealthy mobile news startup from Cheezburger’s Ben Huh and SimpleGeo’s Matt Galligan, is trying to build a news application that is native to smartphone and tablet users. In a video interview, Huh explains what’s wrong with news today and how it needs to change.

The internet is supposed to be about the end of intermediaries. Then why are middlemen so successful? For years, aggregators have ruled the content space and now a new breed of brokers is using technology to redefine the interaction between readers and publishers.

A Scottish man has revealed he’s the writer behind a blog detailing the life of a gay Syrian woman. But as the inquest begins into how he fooled the world’s media and thousands of readers, can we really insulate ourselves from fakes and liars?

Google is reportedly testing the integration of Twitter within Google News, which would allow users to login and see news stories shared by people they follow. Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said the web giant would be adding “a social layer” to all its services.

Google’s latest attempt to get more social is a redesign of Google News that adds a number of features, including the ability to share clusters of stories, and to vote on news sources. But is that what visitors to Google News really want from the service?

Google is experimenting with adding a human element to its News pages, a new feature called “Editor’s Picks.” But is it trying to curry favor with media outlets that have accused it of “stealing” their content? Or is it an admission that algorithms are not perfect?

In one of the first marriages of news content and location-based services, the Canadian arm of the free paper Metro International has announced a content deal with Foursquare, the popular mobile location-based service, that will give users the ability to see local news and reviews.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece this week, set out to argue what has been said a million times before: The Internet isn’t killing news. But while he was stating the obvious, some of his points didn’t exactly help Google’s case.